Thread: The mainstream convergence of Gaming

The old and bold amongst us will remember gaming being a purely solo past time plugged into the TV trying too finish sonic in 1 sitting as there were no saves back then. Or for the few of us sitting through the tension of loading a tape on a spectrum only for it too crash at the last possible moment.
Gaming is now turn on, tune in and zone out. Its so accessible now no computer experince required and thanks too the Wii little taste either ;)
In a way its diluted the experience but the lack of interaction has opened gaming up too the masses and taken gaming from being a nerdy hobby too an everyday one, like fishing but without the beards and brolly's.
The games industry is due too be worth $68.3 Billion by 2012, thats an astonishing figure considering where gaming was 10 years ago. This is several times larger than Hollywood.
Halo 3 took $84 million in its first 24 hours and sold 1.8 million copies in 8 hours. The halo impact was so huge that hollywood complained that it was 'killing the movie industry' no duff Ben Stiller movies then bonus.
AAA titles now have multi million pound budgets, hollywood writers and actors involved and in halo's case Peter Jackson!
I don't miss the old days one bit, even when i boot up the DreamCast i see the cracks and i for 1 am glad that MY hobby is now accepted too the point my parents can play the Wii and even dable with the xbox. The more people that play means more money for the developers and better, bigger, more badass games with more interactive and believeable worlds, with top quality voice acting and amazing cut scenes too enjoy.
I wont be getting rid of my old consoles yet but i wont miss them when they eventually fail. I will bury my dreamcast facing North too the lone sound of a piper and get back to my Xbox.
Who knows where we will be in 10 years from now i'll still be a gamer and bunking off work too get my T bag on.

Viva 'La Progress

ten years time ill still be shit at halo

Haha, if you want to see the dumbing down of games then look no further than Nintendo?s latest gameplay ?innovation?, Demo-Play, aimed at the most casual of casual gamers, its premise is that if you get stuck or bored, you just turn on Demo-Play and the game plays itself, until you see fit to resume control, I think we all know what it?s like watching someone else play games, now imagine watching a computer play your games for you... Boring... And a waste of money!

I think dumbing down games is something that gets thrown around allot. Making a game more accessable is one thing like Gears 2 having the pussy.. i mean casual mode. Some games just aren't meant for the casual market doesn't mean they are less important or relevant just shit

10 years time i will be using my zimmer frame to walk over to the xbox to take out put on the box for airing, and over to plug in the old big transformer, i will play snooker, coz my reaction will be too slow for the likes of Halo or Gears

I hate the modern image of gaming more than anything else. I wrote into GameCentral a week or so back expressing my contempt at the image used in adverts in regards to gaming as seen in most Wii, DS, Kinect and Move ads (and music games too). I despise all the aspirational nonsense and all the identical, affluent, sterile modern apartments / homes you see the upper middle class playing away in.

Maybe I'm harsh and perhaps it's to do with the fact that television that generates the most violent tendencies in me tend to be found from adverts, but something about the mainstream, corporate created image of games (or rather the "people" seen to be playing them) doesn't ring any truer an image than the stereotype isolated, sweaty gamer of old (I also hate how in aforementioned ads you see more of the people "playing" the games than you do of the games themselves. I see people all the time at work and when I go out or where ever, I don't wanna see anymore of them than I have to, particularly when the people on display are the stuff of my worst nightmares!). Or perhaps I'm just angry! Thought I'd share that.

I don't want the real image of gaming on my tv screen. Who wants to see joe in his saggy drawers scratching his arse, gawping at the screen playing halo? I'd rather look at ferne britton or louise redknapp thanks.

Originally Posted by S7eve

I don't want the real image of gaming on my tv screen. Who wants to see joe in his saggy drawers scratching his arse, gawping at the screen playing halo? I'd rather look at ferne britton or louise redknapp thanks.

You forgot to include Ant & Dec somewhere in there you know. -_^

I'd personally rather look at video games myself but there you go, afterall, isn't that what it's all about?

When I want my Louise Redknapp fix I'll look at her pop videos and performances myself (better outfits in those normally too lol!). ^_^

the problem with games going mainstream is that not much survives the transition to mainstream without turning shit. which i suppose the wii is that, but if the xbox continues to try and rope in the casual gamers and the whole family it will lose its edge. because the casuals and the members of the family dont push for better graphics, better gameplay, better games in general.

when something goes "mainstream" it loses the urgency to constantly improve, as the "mainstream" buyers will buy anything thats well publicised, not neccessarily something thats good (ie force fed down their stinkin throats).

look at the x factor, its the only thing all the fucking "mainstream" talk about, yet it gets WORSE every year, not better.

Originally Posted by Are You EXPd

the problem with games going mainstream is that not much survives the transition to mainstream without turning shit. which i suppose the wii is that, but if the xbox continues to try and rope in the casual gamers and the whole family it will lose its edge. because the casuals and the members of the family dont push for better graphics, better gameplay, better games in general.

when something goes "mainstream" it loses the urgency to constantly improve, as the "mainstream" buyers will buy anything thats well publicised, not neccessarily something thats good (ie force fed down their stinkin throats).

look at the x factor, its the only thing all the fucking "mainstream" talk about, yet it gets WORSE every year, not better.

Agreed here. You know, I don't mind if the mainstream audience gets their products and what not, provided it doesn't jeopardize the games created for the more traditional gaming audience. And there the problem lies, seeing as market forces will always be put ahead of every other concern. Look at Nintendo. Not that long ago they made some awesome games (and still do with some exceptions), but in the matter of a few years their entire identity is nothing to what it once was. And as for their loyal fanbase, well. They've been set adrift. Tragic.

I'm not surprised by any of this of course (I studied business for five years and as a result hate many aspects about it!), but it's a damn shame as far as I'm concerned.